We are saddened that the question of removing the City Hall Mural has come up again.

This not simply a “Public Art” project. It is a commemoration, made by 80 community members in 2002, of an event that took place in 1999 involving literally hundreds of community members: the Enderby and District Community Play “Not the Way I Heard It”. That play was itself not just a play – it was a commemoration of 21 events in the history of Enderby and Splatsin, including The Naming of Enderby, and including The Creation of the Reserve.

In today’s terms, the mural was an act of Reconciliation, and the Play was an act of Reconciliation of enormous significance both here and across the country, long before the Truth and Reconciliation became a household term. It is something Enderby and Splatsin can be proud of, as it was a great success in bringing together two communities that had been living as Two Solitudes while adjacent to each other.

The mural is the record of this ephemeral event. This graphic is what is remaining of an effort that involved so many people of all ages and walks of life, many of whom are no longer with us. It is also a historical document, representing the many local events and times that were included in the play (21 stories) and now are parts of the mural, in the variety of pictures that are part of the whole. Buildings are often preserved or memorialized because they are historic or considered to be part of heritage. The mural memorializes and acknowledges the common culture of this unique place, and thus should be kept intact.

We hear that some people like the mural and others don’t, but that’s not the point. Nor is liking the point of art – art is meant to create discussion. Which, if opinions vary, the mural does. Many people have moved to the area since 1999, who may not know what it is about. Perhaps it is timely to let people know, and for local residents to understand the immense goodwill that was behind both projects, and the immense goodwill that they generated. The mural embodies the sense of community that what we all strive for, and that is possible when people come together with a common ideal.

Before the City Council / Arts Council make a decision about how to repurpose the mural we request an opportunity to make a presentation about the Enderby and District Community Play and the City Hall Mural. For now please read below where we have included some background about the Mural and about the Play.

The Mural:

The mural was made under the auspices of the Enderby and District Arts Council.

Well-known Artist Frances Hatfield was invited by the project’s initiators Roxi Hermsen and Susan Kicsio to lead a collaborative creation of a mural commemorating the Enderby and District Community Play which had taken place two years earlier. Frances was a much loved and well-known artist who lived locally (Armstrong) and participated in Enderby culture; she passed away about nine years ago. She applied her study and experience of the famous Mexican muralists of the 19th century which partly accounts for its distinctive style. 80 residents from age 8 – 88, from both Enderby and Splatsin, took part in design sessions and in the actual execution of the mural under the mentorship of Frances. Roxi and Susan did a great deal of research into materials and how to keep it weather-proof which is why it is in very good condition. (Roxi knows the details of this and would be happy to share.) Funds were granted through both the Vancouver Foundation and the Hamber Foundation both of which support projects that enhance the lives of British Columbians.

The mural contains memories and is a reminder for those who participated or attended the Enderby and District Community Play, and a source of local historical information for those who didn’t.

The Play Project:

The 1999 Enderby and District Community Play was a 20 month project that brought people of all walks of life into an artistic expression of this place. 21 stories were collected in a variety of ways and from a variety of sources, and written into a script by visiting Theatre Director James Fagan Tait, Cathy Stubington, and Rosalind Williams, recognized as the history keeper of the Splatsin Nation. The story that tied these stories together was the extraordinary life cycle of the salmon that are born and die here.

The play was entitled “Not the Way I Heard It”, because it included stories from many perspectives. In particular, the parts of the script that Rosalind brought forward invited locals to hear for the first time a perspective of the history of this place from the people who have resided here since time immemorial. There was a Creation story, a story of children from Town and Reserve getting to know each other, a re-enactment of the Creation of the Reserve, and others. We also commemorated the naming of the town, the paddlewheeler, the burning of the school, lively early settlers and others who have lived here more recently.

Everyone was welcomed into the play. Over a period of three months of rehearsal, the cast expanded to include 163 people, including a high proportion of Splatsin community members as well as Enderby residents and others from up and down the valley. Significantly, Splatsin Elders Casmir Felix, Lena Bell, who are no longer with us, took part, as did Elder Florence Nicholas, and many other that are still here. The youngest actor was four years old. Some participants have left the area but many are around, including those who were the Steering Committee that made it possible. Former Councillor Shipmaker was one of three brave men who played the part of the Reserve Commissioners in a re-enactment of the Creation of the Reserve (which took place in 1868). Several hundred other people contributed by sewing costumes, making props and masks, organizing, sharing stories, and donating materials. School classes and community groups participated as well as individuals.

Among the many values of what happened, it was an opportunity for people to take part in the arts and do things they wouldn’t have dreamed they’d ever do. People spent time with people they’d never met, including different generations. People were able to express their pride in this community.

Legacy of the Play Project:

This successful collaboration had and still has a huge significance here and garnered national recognition even to the point of influencing Canada Council for the Arts criteria. A documentary was aired on national television. That and another documentary video continue to be shown in many contexts – including lately in Ganawage where a Mohawk artist used it to promote a similar project in her community. A community play project directly inspired by ours was created in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The first community play made it possible for a later Splatsin Community Play “Tuwitames” (did you see it? it was amazing!) to happen in 2014, as well as a community shadow play on the screen of Starlight Drive-in (2004).

So much was learned by people here and elsewhere. The Enderby Play (and the mural project) has been cited in university courses in Concordia (Montreal), University of Victoria, UBC, and others I don’t know about, as an example of how the arts can create bridges and bring people together. It was shared at Peace conferences at University of Toronto and Nairobi. I was recently approached for advice by someone working on a Reconciliation project at another university, having read about our Community Play - it is written about in at least five academic books. When a national symposium of artists from across Canada came to Enderby in 2015 they were shown the commemorative mural.

At a conference where Rosalind Williams and I were invited to speak about the legacy of the Play, Rosalind remarked that the arts are way ahead of politics.